Industrial vacuum equipment has dozens of wet and dry uses such as locating underground utilities (potholing), hydro excavation, air excavation and vacuum excavation. In addition, the equipment can be used for directional drilling slurry removal, industrial clean-up, waste clean-up, lateral and storm drain clean-out, oil spill clean-up and other natural disaster clean-up applications, signs and headstone setting, for example.
Often times high pressure air and water nozzles can be used in conjunction with the vacuum equipment to assist in dislodging material for collection by the vacuum equipment. For example, there are pressure washers that include a complement of different sized nozzles. Some nozzles cause the water jet to be discharged in a triangular plane such as a fan pattern, while others discharge a thin jet of water, which spirals around rapidly in a cone pattern. Other prior art nozzles use a rotor within a chamber that is susceptible to being easily broken, clogged and is difficult to clean.
Most nozzles attach directly to some type of wand or gun. The pressure washer adds its own power to create higher pressure and velocity. However, these prior art pressure washers typically operate at relatively low flow rates and pressures than required for industrial applications such as part cleaning, hydro-excavation, and boring.
Specialized industrial nozzles that have been developed to handle high flow rates do not generate a dynamic and rotating flow pattern. For example, high pressure nozzles that are used for cleaning industrial parts, deburring industrial parts and the like typically discharge at pressures of several thousand pounds per square inch (psi). A shortcoming of these previously known nozzles, however, is that the nozzles are of a fixed geometry and do not generate a dynamic flow pattern. In addition, when the nozzles are switched from one type of nozzle for one application to a different nozzle, it is necessary to employ cumbersome fluid couplings to ensure fluid tight connections with the nozzle. Another shortcoming of the prior art is the inefficiency and difficulty to excavate using a vacuum hose in hard subsurface conditions. Accordingly, what is needed is a pulsating high pressure air and water nozzle that is efficient in all subsurface conditions to help dislodge material for collection by vacuum equipment.